A number of Religious Right groups held a rally in Philadelphia over the weekend to remind everyone that when it comes to religion, they’re right and the rest of us can go jump in the lake (of fire). Read more

My wife and I are fans of the Sunday New York Times, and yesterday as we were enjoying the paper over a leisurely breakfast, she nudged me to make note of a story on the front page. I looked and was a little taken aback. Glaring up at me was a photo of an old Americans United nemesis – Ralph Reed. The headline read, “An Evangelical Is Back From Exile, Lifting Romney.” Read more

The United States is facing a difficult economy, a high jobless rate, a large budget deficit, potential financial problems with Social Security and Medicare and perilous situations overseas. But this week, instead of focusing exclusively on those concerns, a discussion broke out about the place of God in party platforms.

The Democratic platform draft celebrated the “central role” of faith in American life and endorsed “faith-based” partnerships between government and religion. Read more

The Republican Party is meeting in Tampa this week to formally nominate Mitt Romney as its presidential candidate. The convention was supposed to get under way today, but there’s a big problem: Tropical Storm Isaac. Florida officials have declared a state of emergency as the storm, which is expected to be a Category 2 hurricane by the time it makes landfall, bears down on the Gulf Coast.

This had led several people to ask: Why is Pat Robertson sitting on his hands? Read more

There’s so much overlap between the Tea Party and conservative evangelicals that Brody, chief political correspondent for TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network, came up with his own term for this particular political animal. Read more

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was found guilty of crimes against humanity yesterday for his involvement in a civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone. I wonder if Taylor’s former business partner Pat Robertson will visit him in jail.

Taylor was convicted by a UN-backed special court on 11 counts of aiding murder, rape, terror and conscription of child soldiers and sex slaves. He supported vicious rebels in Sierra Leone during that country’s 1991-2002 civil war, and in return, received blood diamonds. Read more

Legislators and media pundits in Washington, D.C., continue to obsess over the birth control mandate in the new health care law and whether church-related institutions like hospitals and colleges must provide contraceptive coverage.

While that’s going, a quieter tussle in Virginia has captured fewer national headlines. That’s a shame because a debate over adoption by same-sex couples in that state is perhaps a better indicator of where the Religious Right wants to take this country. Read more